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Cornwall III - buy or not?

mkane said:
Cornwalls are great for about 3 hours.
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Then you are probably clipping your amp. I listen to my Cornwall 1s all day long at lower volumes and occasionally if something I love comes on, I will turn them up for a while. I run them with an MC2205 and rarely go over 15 watts. But if I turn it up, I do hear the distortion. Just a little, but it is enough!

waffleboy said:
well, I've had my series I's for...3 years? Not fatigued in the least. And I have auditioned lots of other v. good speakers and the Cornwalls have always come out on top. In fact I find them LESS fatiguing than other speakers. They have an ease about them that I find comforting.
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Well said! That's how I feel about my 1s. I've had mine for 5 years. Built in 1981 IIRC.
 
Thats a real possibility. I was using different SET amps that put out a massive 3.5 watts on a good day. And the 45's maybe a watt and three quarters.
 
Superman541 said:
And now, I am to believe that after more than 50 years of production, research and incremental improvements, Klipsch finally discovered a way to use that same basic design (15" paper woofer, 1.5" midrange diaphragm and 1.0" tweeter) to make a speaker so superior to all previous iterations as to make them seem like childs' toys. On its face, this seems implausible.
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Of course it's silly, and it's totally predictable. Claims that the latest iteration "makes all previous versions seem like child's play" arises whenever a new version of a speaker is released. It's like saying "Klipsch engineers have always sucked right up until the time they made MY speakers."

Remember this: The same person designed both the III's and IV's and did so using the same basic design and materials. So then, what major break-throughs in audio science would explain such a colossal improvement? "Yes, but even HE says the IV's are wayyy better..." Well of course the engineer will say the improvement is significant, what would you expect? Do you really think he's going to say, "meh.. the audible differences are going to be very very subtle" ..Of course not.

Despite excellent specifications and measurements, people griped that the mid-horn in the CWIII looked small and that it was shared by the Heresy. So this gave Klipsch something to change with much immediate fanfare. And claims that people can hear reduced "chuffing" (or whatever the silly pseudo-sciensy term it's given) from putting molded plastic inserts in the vents is ridiculous. But so it goes w/ audio. ..People claim to hear differences with everything.

I have the III's and have heard the IV's. ..They both sound very very very much alike - which is to say great.. ..Not the "huge" leaps people claim. ..And rest assured, those making these claims about their V's will be repeating my comments when the Vi's come out.
 
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I’d love to hear from Chief Bonehead on this—if/why the IIIs are considered by Klipsch engineers to be noticeably inferior to the IVs. I’ve never heard the IVs, but I have KHorns—and there are differences in SQ among the various models/drivers/crossovers. I will also say that, for me, the McIntosh MC 275 MKVI, which I use, is a substantially noticeable improvement over the 275 MKV (and all previous versions)—especially in tonality and bass. The 275 MKVI is not day and night different from the MKV…but it’s a leap better, to my ears in my system. So I’m open to the notion that Klipsch may have achieved something remarkably better here with their latest iteration of the Cornwalls. And some prefer the Cornwalls to the Klipschorns—and the original 275 to the later versions—or the MC 225 to the 275. (That said, I also pray McIntosh doesn’t come out with an MC 275 MKVII any time soon. LOL.) There could also be some trickle-down improvements from the Klipsch Jubilee (which crushes the KHorn) to the Cornwall IV. FWIW, Some of the folks at Audio Classics think the Heresy I is the best version of that model.
 
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Bushikan said:
I’d love to hear from Chief Bonehead on this—if/why the IIIs are considered by Klipsch engineers to be noticeably inferior to the IVs.
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Go over to the forum on the Klipsch website and you'll find precisely that... But seriously, what else would you expect?? Is it reasonable to think he'd say, "The differences b/w the two are barely audible." ? ..Of course not. But again, he designed BOTH and did so w/ pretty much all the same technology and tools available to him. So IF the IV is soooo much better then CF needs to answer for why the III was sooo terrible..

My hunch is that from a purely technical point of view there is NO reason why the Cornwall mid-horn needs to be any larger than it is on the III. ..But the idea that the more expensive Cornwall would share a tweeter and mid-horn with the entry-level Heresy stuck in the crawl of Klipsch fans and likely hurt Cornwall sales. ..So it provided an easy "upgrade" blueprint for the CW IV. ..Now whether it truly is a big improvement is debatable.
 
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Fitero said:
"a pair of 1982 CWs for $100" Wow! Great purchase!
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Yes (sorry I deleted my post), the seller was moving and knew they would need considerable work after being neglected in his detached 2 1/2 car garage.
New risers, a missing speaker connector sent to me (for postage) by an AK member, a little work by me, and a lot of work by a neighbor (that did a beautiful job of refinishing them for just material cost) and I now have a grand total of $208 in them.
 
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JD Harvey said:
This thread has me... :rflmao:

I have CW I's and must be living like the Flintstones! Haha!!
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Having ancient, outmoded, invalid, “vintage” gear is NO laughing matter. Not only will all the true audiophiles scorn you, but you will have horrible sound and absolutely no friends (except other antiques collectors)—that is: NO friends worth having. I strongly advise (1.) That you immediately go to your nearest audio salon and ask for the latest and greatest and most expensive gear available; And (2.) That you maintain a standing, open upgrade order at said salon to change out your entire system every six months (all cables/wires/ICs every three months).
 
Bushikan said:
Having ancient, outmoded, invalid, “vintage” gear is NO laughing matter. Not only will all the true audiophiles scorn you, but you will have horrible sound and absolutely no friends (except other antiques collectors)—that is: NO friends worth having. I strongly advise (1.) That you immediately go to your nearest audio salon and ask for the latest and greatest and most expensive gear available; And (2.) That you maintain a standing, open upgrade order at said salon to change out your entire system every six months (all cables/wires/ICs every three months).
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:rflmao:
 
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